Apologies for those on my Political Junkie/ScuttleButton mailing list who didn't get a notification last week about the new column and new puzzle. NPR has adjusted its e-mail server and my mass mailing from last week didn't see the light of day. I'm hoping the problem will be addressed this week.
ScuttleButton, of course, is that once-a-week waste of time exercise in which each Monday or Tuesday I put up a vertical display of buttons on this site. Your job is to simply take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and, hopefully, you will arrive at a famous name or a familiar expression. (And seriously, by familiar, I mean it's something that more than one person on Earth would recognize.)
For years, a correct answer chosen at random would get his or her name posted in this column, an incredible honor in itself. Now the stakes are even higher. Thanks to the efforts of the folks at Talk of the Nation, that person also hears their name mentioned on the Wednesday show (by me) and receives a Political Junkie t-shirt in the bargain. Is this a great country or what?
You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state — you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.
(Why do people keep forgetting to include their name and city/state?)
And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be among the first on your block to receive notice about the column and the puzzle. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.
Good luck!
By the way, I always announce the winner on Wednesday's Junkie segment on TOTN. But with it now less than a week until the next show, your window for getting your answer in is smaller.
Here are the buttons used and the answer to last week's puzzle:
Senator Michael Steele/Victory Night Nov. 7, 2006 — Steele, then lt. gov. and later the RNC chair, was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for the Senate from Maryland.
No Roberts/Yes Roe (pic John Roberts) — Abortion rights supporters of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision opposed the confirmation of Roberts to the Supreme Court.
D Huddleston U.S. Senate — A ScuttleButton perennial, he served two terms as a Kentucky Democrat from 1973 to 1984, when he was unseated by Mitch McConnell.
(picture of a sailboat) Set All Sails and Elect Capt. F.E. Lovejoy State Senate — A Republican from Washington State who ran in 1938.
A — Button picked up at an Anarchist book store in Manhattan in the early 1970s.
The Shore Needs Lockhart for Congress — Leonard Lockhart challenged scandal-ridden Rep. Thomas Johnson in the 1962 Democratic primary in Maryland's 1st CD, on the Eastern Shore, but lost.
So, when you combine Michael + Roe + D + Boat + A + Shore, you may just very well end up with ...
Michael Row the Boat Ashore. Folk song sung by the Highwaymen and Peter, Paul & Mary, among others.
The winner, chosen completely at random, is ... Maureen Holder of St. Louis, Mo. Maureen gets not only the coveted Political Junkie t-shirt — but the Official No Prize Button as well!
And don't forget to check out this week's Political Junkie column, which focuses on the controversy over the exclusion of Chris Christie from this month's CPAC event in Washington. Click here to read the column.
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